The situation of English speaker’s place of origin depending on Chinese dialects

This study examines the ability to identify different Chinese dialects through the English language and evaluates how often respondents pay attention to phonological features and rate of speech to explain their categorizations. The research includes 100 Chinese undergraduate students and 100 young people without advanced degrees aged 20 to 25. Discrete independent data samples collected during the interview of participants are analyzed with the help of such statistical methods as Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Wilcoxon's test. The obtained results indirectly show the ability of respondents to identify native and non-native English speakers around the world, as well as determine their nationality. The outcomes of the paper explicate who, in general, categorize Chinese dialects better and which dialects are the most recognizable. Research data reveal a high degree of stereotypization of various dialects, especially the Beijing and U dialects. Moreover, based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that speaking rate significantly affects the perception and classification of a speaker from a particular province of China.

Joseph Wright’s sources in the English Dialect Dictionary: evidence of spoken English from EDD Online

Linguists of historical English, of traditional dialects and present-day varieties of English, generally rely on written texts, now often available in the form of corpora. However, the historical development of English, including its regional dialects, was naturally rooted in the spoken vernacular, rather than the literary standard. This paper, based on EDD Online (3.0), therefore, argues that the wealth of sources as used by Wright in his comprehensive English Dialect Dictionary (EDD) should no longer be disregarded, given that no better information is available. After a critical assessment of the widespread scepticism towards the EDD sources and of the different motivation of scholars not primarily concerned with traditional dialects (such as OED lexicographers), the paper first provides a survey of the different types of sources used by the EDD and presented in different lists and tables in EDD Online, and then focuses on the unpublished sources. The subsequent section shows that part of the problem of spoken sources results from the unjustified insistence of many scholars on phonetics to be the level of linguistic interest. In answer to the OED’s scepticism towards Wright’s sources as expressed in a paper by Durkin (2010a), the final section provides an analysis of Northamptonshire dialect words as a test case, with various linguistic issues beyond the OED’s focus on the temporal frame of reference.

First approaches to an underexplored dialect region: Trudgill’s Upper Southwest

Although dialectology in England received two major boosts at the end of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century (Ellis 1889 and Orton & Barry 1956-8), discussion of dialect change since that time has avoided discussion of many areas, concentrated as it was in those Universities with a tradition of dialectology (Essex, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle). Though many areas have since been re-examined in England; notably Bristol dialect (Blaxter & Coates 2019), Newcastle dialect (Milroy 1994, Milroy et al. 1999) Sunderland dialect (Burbano-Elizondo 2007), and Manchester dialect (Baranowski & Turton 2015, Bermúdez-Otero et al. 2015) there remain many areas which were never fully explored at the time of the Survey of English Dialects (Birmingham as an urban area for example was completely bypassed by that survey), as well as many areas which remain little known and studied. This paper brings together what is known about the dialects of the Upper Southwest and suggests pointers for directions in future research there based on the data from Worcestershire and Herefordshire that we discuss.

Les expression météorologiques. Une approche contrastive allemand / luxembourgeois / français

Every day, we are confronted with meteorology, the scientific study of the atmospheric phenomena and their variations. The purpose of this article is to analyze the meteorological events in three languages, Luxemburgish and two other official languages of Luxembourg, French and German. First, we make a detailed inventory of verbs and verbal phrases which we found. Next, they are explained and commented; while there are seventeen items in French and German, there are eighteen in Luxem-burgish; so, the meteorological experiences are organized rather homogeneously. Then we deal with the lexicological specifications. In French, we discover the lightness of the meteorological phenomenon; it is followed by examples of atmospheric disturbances, which exist in German and Luxemburgish, too. A special focus of the article is put on the presentation of metaphorical expressions. Finally, we put the question if two meteorological events can appear at the same time.

On continental Basque dialects and some aspects of their chronology

The aim of this study was to analyze the innovations of the Basque in the Salazar Valley, which is located in northeastern Navarre, and compare them with those of the Continental Basque Country in order to try to obtain chronological and geolinguistic information on the innovations of the wide eastern Basque Country. To achieve my purpose, I drew upon descriptions of the Basque dialect spoken in the Salazar Valley. This study analyzed texts dating from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries from the Continental Basque Country as well as samples from the last two centuries from the Navarrese Pyrenees. The data collected from this region were examined with regard to the behavior of the isoglosses within the Continental Basque Country in earlier stages. I examined innovations with particular attention to what geographical diffusion model they showed and how far they spread. In addition, I analyzed what isogloss boundaries are recurrent and what innovations were transferred from the Pyrenees toward Navarre. I found that the Basque spoken in Lower Navarre has undergone change that has spread toward Labourd. Regarding contact with other dialects, it shares features with Labourdin to the west, and with Souletin to the east. On the assumption that Lower Navarre and Labourd have recently converged, a future hypothesis to test would be whether Lower Navarre merged with Soule in earlier stages.

Sources in historical dialectology

Any scholarly description of Hungarian dialects may only be possible for the time period after the settlement of the Hungarian-speaking population in the Carpathian Basin. Research in historical dialectology has primarily focused on the phonological characterization of 11th-14th century conditions, while in terms of sources, scholars have so far relied primarily on early data related to tribes’ names, historical data recorded in charters, today’s dialects, as well as evidence provided by related languages and elements borrowed from others. My paper sets out to establish the value of various sources in historical dialectology in view of our current knowledge in language history and calls attention to related methodological pitfalls. As most of these source types may also greatly contribute to the better understanding of the history of other languages, these methodological issues are relevant not only for Hungarian historical linguistics and dialectology but also more generally. The research and writing of this essay has been supported by the University of Debrecen and the MTA Premium Postdoctoral Research Program, Eötvös Loránd Research Network.

Romanian words of German Origin (based on ALRR. Sinteză, vol. 1–3)

The following presentation is based on the lexical material from vols 1–3 published so far in Atlasului lingvistic român pe regiuni. Sinteză – ALRR. Sinteză [ALRR. Synthesis] [The Romanian linguistic atlas by regions. Synthesis - ALRR. Synthesis]. I, 2007, II, 2012, III, 2018, which includes the answers to the first two chapters of the NALR Questionnaire: 1. Human body (body parts, diseases, physical and moral qualities) (vols I and II of the atlas) and 2. Family (relatives, birth, marriage, death) (vol. III of the atlas). The present study highlights the presence of German loanwords over a wider area than it was known until now. It is worth mentioning, in this respect, German loanwords that have entered the southern area or that have acquired here meanings that are not attested in other areas of the country: tro̯ácă ‘skull’ (Oltenia), ‘cradle’ (Muntenia, Oltenia), scrofuri ‘tonsils (goiter)’ (Muntenia, Oltenia), tron ‘coffin’ (compact area in Oltenia).

Language variation and change in the formation of Greek superlative constructions

This paper addresses variation and change in the realization of superlative constructions in the light of the evidence provided by Modern Greek dialectal variation as a window into the study of the organization of grammar. Dialectal data show that analyticity prevails in the realization of relative comparative constructions, while absolute ones seem to resist more persistently due to their high relevance with another morphological category, evaluative intensification. Our findings argue in favour of the strong interplay among all three processes, viewed as realizations of the conceptual category of gradation, accounted for in terms of a continuum. The proposed organization captures the strong interplay between intensification and absolute superlatives on the one hand, while relative and absolute superlative formations on the other. On a theoretical level, this account could contribute further to important issues such as the controversial status of comparison and evaluation in grammar, which may differ cross-linguistically, suggesting that a combined account of the three processes might prove more adequate.